Apparatus for regulating the acidity of sulfite liquor and other like purposes



J. .B'. CRANDON.

CIDLTY 0F SULFITE LIQUOR AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES. I APPLICATZON man nus. 12. 191B.

APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THEA Patented May 25, 1920 MILKOF L NE ill UNITED STAT rosters a. mammoth, or sonata-uh, Marian, sentence; 'ro searches at umccomrans, or ronrtann, name, a sensual-latch or a;.a:..

APPARATUS FOR REGULA'IING THE ACIDI'I'Y 0F fiU'LIilIllTu iltltil'lll tlllllli Es PATENT llfl t lllllliftl man-m.

Specification of Letters Iatent. Paitgmibgqjl liq/M Q 9 19% Application filed August W, 191.8. Serial No. 2419,4tlll5.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that I, JOSEPH B. Channels, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful lmprovemei'its in Apparatus for vlieu-ulatinp; the Acidity of Suliite' Liquor and other like Purposes, of which the follow- /ing' is a specification.

lily invention relates primarily to. the regulation and indication of the acidity of sullite liquor used in the sulfite process of nmkiug paper pulp although it is capable of being used for a great variety of analogous purposes.

The sulfite liquor ahove rei'errcd to is made milk of lime through a series of tanks and drawing or forcing su'ltlurous acid gas through the lime water as it pa through the tanks. The sulhu'ous acid unites with the lime to form hisullite of lime with a certain proportion of free acid which remains in the solution uncomllined. The sulfurous acid gas which is passed through the lime Water comes from the burners where sulfur is burned and varies considerably in quan tity and concentration and consequently the acidfcontent oi the sulfite liquor varies.

not present the method of securing unitorniity of the acid content of the liquor is to make frequent chemical analyses oi the liquor and to open or close the feed valve which regulates the supply of milk oflime at the head of the system of tanks as the acid content shows more or less strength.

Another system of making the sulfite meeting the water holding lime in solution unites with the lime to form the loisulfite of lime and the resulting solution is collected in a tanlr at the foot of the tower. In this processthe strength of the acid is regulated by letting" in more or less water at the top oi the tower.

The object of my inventionis to determine mid-regulate the acidity ill the sulfite liquor through an apparatus controlled by a current of electricity which made to pass through the liquor while the latter is hlthe' The sulturous acid gas process of making. l have found that when a current of electricity is passed through the liquor the resistance to the passage of the current varies in proportion. to the acid content of the hisultlte liquor, the greater the proportion of acid the greater the conduc' tivity of the liquor and my apparatus is founded on this principle. The. apparatus may indicate by a movable member the rela tive quantity of acid in the sulflte liquor or the same movable member may he used to automatically regulate the supply valve to admit more or, less lime water or clear water according to the system to which it ap plied.

According to my present invention, l pass a current of electricity, through the solution and introduce into the circuit an electric heating device including an expansion menu her which expands more or less according" to the quantity of current which passes through the device. The relatively slight motion produced in the expansion member may be ing the concentration of any chemical solution Where the electrical resistance of the chemical varies according to theconcent'i tion of the chemical or may he used to re ulate the concentration of a chemical solution where-a liquidaud a gas or two liquids are being; united in a continuous process governed by one or more inlet valves or their equivalents, in the manufacture oi? bleach where chlorin gas is united to lirne forming chlorid of lime and in other like operations.

In the accompanying droa vingl have illus trated one form of iny invention as applied to the tank system of making hisulfite of lime.

In the drawing,

l i ure shows an. elevation olf my electric hcatp'ig deyice partly in section on line .l--l ot -l ig. connected with a diagrainnnitic representation cl" a liruior melting system.

Fig. 2 us an elevation at the heating device taken atri'ght angles to that shown in Fig. 'l

Fig. 3 s 'a SQLlTlOl l. on the line 22 of hi 1. Fig". 4 1s a section .talzcn on the line 3-t of F g. 2 and Fig. 5 is a view of the tank and its connections.

Referring to the drawings, 4 represents .the supply tank'ot' milk of lime from which other, so that the liquor will flow by gravity which the rod 17 is made.

from one to the other. The flow of milk of lime from the supply tank is regulated by a supply valve 6 which is preferably a gate valve operated by a lever 13. The liquo as it flows through the tank 7 overflows through a pipe 8 to the next lower tank in the series. The sulfurous gas is drawn or forced in through a pipe 9 which is connected with the sulfur burners. The gas passes up through the liquor and out through the exhaust pipe 10. 'i he gas as it bubbles through the liquor unitcs with the milk of lime to form the bisulfite of lime with a portion of the gas held in the solution as free acid, 7

Means are provided to pass a current of electricity tl'nouglr the liquor and as here shown I provide two electrodes ll and 12 which are introduced through the side of the tank. These electrodes 11 anddi are connected by wires 14: and 15 with a heating wire of an electric heating device having an expansion member, the expansion and con-- traction of which is made to lndlcate theacid content of the liquor and to regulate the supply of lime water passing through the valve (3. My electric heating device as here shown is (:OIHI'XEQll. of an expansion rod 17 around which is coiled the heating wire 16. The rod 1? is preferably of brass or some metal having relatively great ex: pansibility and the-heating wire is of iron or steel or wire having considerable resistance to the passage of the electric current.

The rod 17 is of considerable length and is fixed in a frame made up of a series of disks 18, 19, 20 and 21 connected by tie rods 22 made preferably of iron or steel or metal less expansible by heat than the material of The rods22 are secured to the bottom disk 18 and to the upper disk 21 by nuts while the rod 17 is secured firmly to the bottom disk by being driven into a hole extending through the disk or it may be soldered or otherwise securcd to the disk. The upper end of the rod 17 extends through a central opening in the upper disk 21 to apoint above the disk. As the rod 17 is heated more or less by the heat of the heating wires 15 it expands more or less and its upper end rises and falls accordin; to the heat of the rod. The slight motion of the upper end of the rod 17 is converted into a much greater motion capable of indimg work by means of a lever or its equivaof the endof the rod 17.

cating the strength of the solution or of do As here shown, I ma kc use of a relatively long lever 2 pivoted on the disk :21 by a. stud S24 and guided by a guide 25 which insurcs the continual alinement of "the Icvcr 23. The under side of the lever 23 bears or rests on the upper end of the rod 17 an antifriction device as a bearing ball being interposed betwcen the upper end of the rod 17 and the lever 23.

The frame containing the expansion rod is held in place by a casing made of a strip of angle iron 27 which is herc'shown as being secured to some overhead support and also secured by screws to the several disks. The pivoting point of the lever 25, and the contact point with the rod are close together while the long arm of the lever extends out a considerable distance. As the rod 17 expands more or less the outer end of the rod vibrates vertically and in ('OHI'KPl'lOIl with a suitable scale would serve to indicate the degree of concentration of the solution. it may also be employed to open and closc the valve (3 by connecting thc,valvc lever 13 which controls the valve with the lcvcr E23 by a connecting rod'QH so that thcrisc and be understood that this current may be taken from any outside current or otherwise supplied.

In the making of bisullite of lime, as the acidity increases the conductivity of the liquor increases so that as the free acid increases the current through the wire 16 will increase and the rod 17 increases in length throwing up the arm 23 and partially opening the valve. This lets more lime water flow into the tank, neutralizing the acid and reducing the quantity of free acid. \Vhen the acidity falls the opposite cll'ect takes place and the valve is partially closed, shutting off the low of lime water and cansing the valve to close.

It will be seen that this apparatus is adapted to be used either in indicating or regulating the conccntration of any chemical solution where the electrical conductivity of the solution varies with the degree of concentration.

The apparatus is adapted to be used in any process where a product of uniform character is being made by combining two or more substances and where the degree of concentration is governed by the resistance of a standard electric circuit.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a chemical solution, a reearner,

ceptacle for said solution, means for passing a current of electricity through the solution,

an electric heating device through which said current passes having an expansion member and a movableelement moved by the expansion of said member.

2. In an apparatus for determining the concentration of a chemical solution, a re ceptacle for said solution, means for passing a current of electricity through the solution and an electric heatingl device through which said current passes aving an expansion member and a lever arm connecting with said expansion member for receiving motion from the same.

3. In an apparatus for regulating the con centration of a chemical solution, the combination of an elongated expansion rod, a heating wire'surrounding said rod, means 20.2fmpassing a current of electricity through the solution and throu h said heating wire, a-lever arm connecte with said rod and arranged to be moved by the 1011 'itudinal motion of the same under the in name of the change of temperature.

4;. In an apparatus for re centration o v 'nlating the cona, chemical so ution and other said liquor, a supply valve for said tank,

a pair of electrodes immersed in the liquor,

an electric heating device having; an exparo sion member, an electric circuit including said electrodes and said electric heating device, a lever connecting with the end or said. expansion member, a connecting rod connecting said lever with said valve for con trolling the valve.

5. In an apparatus for regulating the con centration of a chemical solution and other like purposes, the combination of a tank through which said liquor passes, a supply valve for said tank, a pair of electrodes in1- mersed in the liquor, an electric heating de 'vice having an expansion. rod, an electric circuit including said electrodes and said electric heating device, a lever arm pivoted. adjacent to 'said expansion rod, a bearing ball interposed between the end of said rod. and said arm, a valve lever for controlling operation of said valve, and a connecting rod for connecting said valve lever and said lever arm 1 JOSEPH Bi GEANDQNQ 

